Blog 5: Ethics Reflections by Jill Caldwell
This class was pretty eye-opening when it comes to my future regardless of what I choose to do. I think the most important ethical lesson I learned this semester was in a lecture series; always trust your gut. Although this wasn’t necessarily a topic we specifically talked about, I realized this throughout many class discussions that it was something I could rely on more. Within each of the ethical discussions we had, I would think about what I truly thought should be done. For example, when discussing photojournalism I had really strong opinions about what should be run. After voicing my opinions, I realized some people had the same viewpoints as me.
Off of that, I think the second most important ethical lesson I learned was that you have to keep in mind you are doing this for the greater good of your audience. So, with the photojournalism example, if the photo does not add to the story, but would hurt the family, friends etc. of the subject, it may not be worth running. One photo we talked about was of a little boy’s dead body covered in a sheet. Next to him was the bus that hit and killed him and the bus driver being escorted away. The whole situation was a sad, sad accident. To run that picture would break my heart. In my opinion, you gain nothing from that story and hurt his family and friends. The last memory they now have of that little boy is him laying next to the snow under a sheet with his tiny sneakers exposed.
This class taught me to realize that. Before, I wonder if I would have realized that the family could be so hurt by that. I think it is important to stay at a distance so you don’t have a conflict of interest but at the same time think like the audience the best you can so to make sure you are accenting the greater good of the people.
I know that I will always think twice about what I am writing to make sure it is accurate, honest and of the utmost importance to the audience. This class opened my eyes to the depth of ethical lessons there are to be learned. There is more than right and wrong, true and false. I think without this class I wouldn’t have thought to ask “Is this doing more harm than good?” “Does this further the story enough that it is necessary to add?” and things such as that. Furthermore, I realized my way is obviously not always the only way or the “right” way. I usually ask others advice when making big decisions and I will probably continue to do that. Reasoning through always seems to be the answer.
Overall, the class was beneficial. I think one way to improve it would be to make the class more interactive (even with iClickers) and have more guest lecturers from all areas (political, sports, etc). I think it is important to remember that not everyone in the course wants to go into news journalism. It would probably be really beneficial for someone to come in from various areas and talk about how they got there, advice, and challenges.